Butterfly Wings
by droidgirl
Summary: “That, Martha, is a very large bullet with a girl trapped in it. She is standing between the utter destruction of at least one planet…and quite frankly, feeling a little suicidal right about now.” X-over with Astonishing XMen


**Butterfly Wings**

Disclaimer: All characters are property of Marvel and BBC. I make no profit from this.

***

In the dark, she lay sprawled across the smooth metal floor, feeling the cold seep in through her uniform, chilling her skin. Theoretically, she knew she was still flying through space at an unthinkable speed, but she felt more like an insect pinned against a board, trapped, stationery and _hurting_.

Was it time to stop phasing? Had she saved the world yet? Could she stop?

No, God, she couldn't stop…

The metal was her and she was the metal and how it sucked and sucked away at everything that held her very body together…

She tried to hold on to images of Peter. Of their last night together.

_Whoof,s_he remembered saying.

It didn't work. All she could see was the dark. All she could feel was the dark.

She wanted it to end now. She didn't want to save the world. She didn't want to save anyone.

She just wanted it to _end_.

With a sob, a scream rose out from her lungs, and bounced against the walls of the metal bullet that had been holding her prisoner forever…

***

"Hello…what do we have here?" the Doctor said, looking at his monitor.

"What's that?" Martha asked over his shoulder, pointing to the rapidly moving dot across the screen. "Is it a comet?"

"Not hardly no…" he said, and took off running for the TARDIS doors.

"Doctor what is it?" the medical student sounded impatient.

The Timelord flung the wooden doors open, just in time to see…a gigantic bullet fly right past. His eyes widened, and quickly, he shut the doors again before bounding back to his control panel.

"Was that a large bullet?" Martha was perturbed.

"That, Martha…" The Doctor said, frantically pressing switches and pulling levers. "That is a very large bullet with a girl trapped in it. She is standing between the utter destruction of at least one planet…and quite frankly, feeling a little suicidal right about now."

"Are we going to stop the bullet and rescue her?" she inquired, caught between worry and excitement.

"We are going to stop the bullet and rescue her!" he replied, giving her a bright smile.

The TARDIS rocked violently in agreement, her engines rolling hard.

***

Was she going mad? Or were there a pair of Converse shoes before her? The floor seemed less icy than it had a moment before, and the ceiling became a bright dome, rather than an absorbing darkness.

A reedy sound escaped from her lips.

"Shh its ok, we're here to help you." A kindly female said, her face peering over her.

"Storm?" she whispered.

No, not caring, wonderful Storm. Someone else; younger, softer around the eyes, dark hair instead of white.

"Doctor I think she's delirious."

"Can't…can't let go…phasing bullet through earth…need to…save…" she managed to get out.

There was a short silence.

Someone knelt down by her head. It was the owner of the Converse shoes. A bespectacled man's face appeared over her, his face a mask of sympathy.

"You passed earth five galaxies back. It's almost time to let go."

Five galaxies back.

She bit back a sob.

"Can your powers of phasing hold up for another two minutes? I'm going to set up a force field for this bullet to detonate safely. When I give you the word, you can let go."

He didn't wait for her answer before running away.

Cool hands tried to stroke her forehead, but they fell right through her body.

"Doctor what's wrong with her? Why can't I touch her?" the woman drew back in fright.

"She's capable of changing her molecular structure and passing through solid objects. She must have used that power to transport the bullet through the earth without harming anyone."

"How did you know that?"

"She's an X-Man. Look at her uniform! It seemed like an obvious explanation…what's your name by the way?"

Her name. What was her name…she closed her eyes, trying desperately to recall.

"Kitty." She whispered at last.

"Kitty?" the woman replied, frowning as if she wasn't quite sure she heard right.

"Kitty! That's brilliant! Not much of a cat person myself, but Kitty! That's just fantastic isn't it Martha! _Molto Bene!_ Now Kitty…get ready to stop…NOW!" the man yelled out loud.

The agonized young woman did as she was ordered.

***

The TARDIS hurtled through space, slammed backwards by the impact of the explosion as the massive bullet exploded against an invisible force field.

Kitty tumbled about, feeling her now very material body crashing against hard surfaces, bruising and bleeding. She could hear shrieking in the background, but couldn't do much about it beyond bringing her arms over her head to protect herself.

Finally, the world stopped rolling. Two sets of feet ran towards her.

"Kitty are you alright?" the man asked, peering down at her a pointing a blue glowing stick at her.

"If by alright you mean pain and the urgent need to throw up, then yes, I'm Jim-Dandy." She croaked.

He broke into a grin.

"That's the spirit! You humans! No matter what kind of evolution you go through, you're always resilient even in the face of…well, giant bullets rushing through space."

"Oh just shove off." The kindly woman said, pushing the man away.

"Don't mind him. He's just the Doctor. I'm Martha – I'm a _real_ Doctor. Sort of."

She found that it hurt to think in general. Instead, Kitty fell into a dead faint.

***

"Her cells seem to have undergone some kind of large scale deterioration…but she's getting better." Martha said, pouring herself a cup of tea. She looked exhausted herself.

"The metal alloy in that bullet. Breakworld stuff…it must have been detrimental to her body structure somehow." The Doctor replied.

"Breakworld?" the young woman asked, sitting down.

"You wouldn't be interested. People there are rude, violent…and no bananas. What kind of planet doesn't have bananas I ask you?" he asked, leaning against the wall.

"What was she doing in there in the first place?"

The Timelord shrugged in response.

"What matters is that she's safe and the universe is safe. We need to get her home, poor thing."

***

The X-Man blinked awake, aware that she was in a very comfortable bed, surrounded by very soft pillows. Her whole body ached as if it had been hit with a wrecking ball or something bigger, but despite that, she couldn't help but feel her spirits lifting.

"Good morning! Welcome back to the world…or at least, the TARDIS." The now familiar bespectacled man said.

"Who are you?" she squinted. "Where am I?"

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?" she wondered if she were still dreaming.

"Exactly." He grinned, rocking backwards and forwards on the balls of his heels. "You're in my space ship. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space – TARDIS for short."

"Oh?"

Her eyes widened as memory gripped her. She shot upright, heedless of her protesting body.

"The bullet! Earth is it…"

"It's fine. The bullet's been destroyed by some very fancy and complicated maneuvers on my part." he looked at her admiringly. "But you. You saved the world, Kitty."

"Huh." She replied, relaxing. "Cool."

"Now that you're awake, perhaps you can tell us when home is so we can drop you off? I'm sure the X-Men will be pleased to hear from you. I know where your headquarters are of course, but I'm just not certain _when_."

Great. She was confused again.

***

"I don't know how to thank the both of you." The young woman gushed, shaking Martha's hand and gazing appreciatively at her two saviours.

"Oh we do this all the time." The Doctor said, hands stuck in his pin-striped pockets. "Don't think anything of it."

"Call me if you need our help, ever. I have a cell phone that has an amazing coverage." The medical student promised.

"Especially with off-worlders. I have a knack of dealing with most other governments in the solar system and beyond."

"You usually piss them off and we have to run screaming." Martha said pointedly.

"That's what I meant."

"Thanks, again. Really." Kitty said. With a final, appreciative grin, she opened the creaking door of the TARDIS, and stepped out onto the verdant and expansive lawn of the X-Mansion.

She was quite sure that given the size of the Doctor's ship, it would have taken up most of the mansion's estate when it landed. To her shock, she found that she was in fact, stepping out of a small and blue phone box. Or at least she thought it was a phone box.

"It's bigger on the inside!" she blurted out loud.

The roar of the ship's engine started, and she backed away cautiously, watching as it disappeared from sight.

"Katya!" she heard someone yelling her name.

She turned around to see Peter loping across the grounds towards her. Her smile came rushing back as he swung her up into his protective embrace. Behind him, she could see Scott, Logan and yes, even Emma approaching with looks of wonder and relief painted on their features.

Home. She was home at last.


End file.
